The UN Security Council will meet on Thursday to discuss North Korea’s latest missile test.
The United States called for a closed-door meeting, according to diplomats in New York. North Korea confirmed on Monday that it fired a Hwasong-12 intermediaterange ballistic missile for the first time since 2017.
The missile was fired on Sunday and proved the weapon’s accuracy and effectiveness for use, the North Korean state new agency KCNA reported. According to experts, the Hwasong-12 has a range of 4,500 kilometres and could theoretically reach the US Pacific island of Guam, where the US has a military base.
Photographs from Sunday’s launch, released by KCNA, were reportedly taken from a camera mounted to the missile. Two images show the launch while others allegedly show the missile in mid-flight.
The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff on Sunday said that the missile flew about 800 kilometres towards the open sea and reached an altitude 2,000 kilometres during the test. Pyongyang has been ratcheting up tensions with a series of missile launches since the start of 2022. It was the North Korean regime’s seventh show of force this year so far.
Source: MIA